Susie and Jeff

How did I meet Jeff

We met on Match. I was on Match because Bela told me it’s the largest site and likely to have the most "inventory.” Jeff was one of my Matches of the Day. I knew that it was best to write a note instead of just clicking on the heart button, but sometimes it’s hard to find an opening, and it’s just so easy to click that little heart (or the big black “X”) and move on.

Lucky for me, in his profile, Jeff listed one of his recently read books as Ready Player One (his kids had made him read it) and I’d recently read it and loved it for my coed book group. So I sent him a one sentence note: “So, how’d you like Ready Player One?” The rest is history :)

It’s been easy since the beginning, just the way it’s supposed to be.

Even on our first date when I accidentally had him meet me at a coffee shop that was closed for Labor Day! As a result, we had to to walk through my neighborhood on a beautiful September day to find a coffee shop that was open. Our walk was a really nice, low key way to kick things off, and we talked for a long time once we sat down with our coffees. I especially loved that he asked me questions. It seemed to me that men my age tended to just want to talk about themselves and it was often hard to get a word in edgewise. So Jeff’s questions about me were a huge plus.

A little bit about me

I was married young and divorced after 3 years. After my divorce, I hit the big reset button and moved up to Chicago to go to business school. Fast forward through plenty of great guys and long-term relationships to four years ago. I was running my own business and found that dating was even harder when you’re doing business development all day. It felt like biz dev and dating required the same kind of energy, and when you put that energy into business development, at the very least it means you can eat!

While I always thought I’d get remarried and have my own children, sometimes life requires a Plan B. Mine was “If I can’t be a mom, I’m going to be a grandma!” Which to me meant being in a relationship with a man who already had children. Happily for me, Jeff has two! I decided to work with Bela because I wanted to shake things up and try something different than what I’d been doing. The most valuable things for me from the experience, in addition to the fabulous pictures, were the insights I got into how I was showing up on dates and some great ideas about how to telegraph my softer, sillier insides up front.